


Five things Daniel wishes he could tell his parents

by SEF



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: 5 Things, Gen, Gen Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-18
Updated: 2010-03-18
Packaged: 2017-10-10 15:56:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/101505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SEF/pseuds/SEF





	Five things Daniel wishes he could tell his parents

**1\. **He recovered, although (perhaps _because_) few people who knew the grisly story of his parents’ death had expected him to. It took far more years than anyone ever knew. For a long time he wished that his mother and father had taught him to believe in the kind of heaven where loved ones were reunited. Eventually he realized that they’d opened far more worlds for him than they had closed, and he was grateful. He visited their graves a few months later to tell them so.

Talk of his gratitude met the predictable response: none. But when he added “I’m OK now, Mom, Dad. I’m all right,” the wind gusting in the maples felt like a burst of joy. He knew all about the human tendency to attach meaning to coincidence, and wasn't bothered. He was OK. And in countless parallel universes his mother and father were growing old together.

** 2\. **As it turned out, a tenured professorship with a well-funded dig of his own was not, in fact, his dream job. He hoped his parents wouldn’t mind too much, and promised that in retirement he would write the Egyptology textbook that would knock E.A. Wallis Budge off the shelves forever.

** 3\. **“Dan’yel! You are late.”

Daniel laughed and wiped his face on one dirty sleeve. “The nights here are long, sweet, so--" He spotted two extra platters on the low dining table. “Oh. We’re having guests?”

“It’s the second moon,” Sha’uri said, as if that were all the explanation required. “Hurry and wash your face and hands.”

Daniel poured a pint or so of water into a stone basin and began the ritual ablutions. “Earth has only one moon, Sha’uri,” he explained. “I don’t know what the second moon signifies.”

“You do not honor your parents?”

“What?” He hid his face for a moment in the washcloth. Sha’uri knew his parents were not just far away, but long since deceased. Of course she knew. So this was…another ritual. A tradition, like setting a place for Elijah.

Sha’uri was there, her hand on his elbow. “Dan’yel. They are here. You must speak for them.” 

She turned to face the table and bowed low. “Good mother, good father. Welcome to our home. Your presence is a blessing and an honor to us. Please taste of our table.” 

She paused, but Daniel didn’t know the correct response. Sha’uri bowed again, and began to apportion meat and bread to each of the four plates. “Sit, husband,” she said quietly. 

He obeyed. 

Sha’uri settled beside him. “Good mother, good father, thank you for the gift of my husband. Would you permit Dan’yel to tell me the story of how you met and married?” 

Daniel slipped an arm around his wife and dropped a kiss into her hair. Sha’uri squeezed his knee beneath the table as if they were indeed under the eye of his parents. 

Daniel sat up straight. He cleared his throat. “Mom, Dad, I’m so glad you’re here. Sha’uri has been so eager to meet you.” He took her hand and clasped it in his on the tabletop. “I know you’re going to love her as much as I do."

** 4\. **The news of Nick’s death came as no surprise. His alien keepers had consulted with the SGC on his failing health. Daniel and Dr. Lam had delivered blood pressure and angina medications, which Nick hadn’t bothered to pick up in person. Every month Daniel sent a message through the gate, but the response was never more personal than a batch of Nick’s mission notes. The last collection of reports was followed by a body.

General Landry was very kind. He helped Daniel make burial arrangements and insisted that he take a few days off. Daniel agreed, although he was aware that guilt, not the sorrow of deep loss, drove his decision. He had never known his grandfather well; his grandfather hadn’t loved him, not in any way that was meaningful. Still, he deeply regretted failing his mother. He wished he could explain that he had done his best to take care of Nick.

** 5\. **I love you. I miss you. I'll never forget you.


End file.
